The invention relates to a training device, especially for downhill skiers learning and practicing wedeln and as well as short turns such a slalom turns as well as wider turns with parallel skis including also intermittent downhill skiing between turns.
In alpine skiing the skier changes direction by means of wide or short so called "parallel ski turns". The velocity of the skier depends on the angle of the slope in view of the fact that the skier does not ski straight downhill but traverses the slope diagonally and turns from one diagonal direction to an opposite diagonal direction by means of the so called "parallel ski turns" which differ from so called "stem turns". In wedel skiing the velocity of the skier can also be predetermined in relation to the slope, whereby the short turns follow each other more rapidly along a wave line. The wedeln motion and the turns are effected by the skier by shifting the center of gravity and the turning of the body of the skier. The learning and controlling of these rhythmic movements are some of the most difficult skills for a skier to acquire. It is particularly difficult to learn to maintain your equilibrium during the turning motion, which turning motions must be introduced by a small jump in order to maneuver the skier's parallel skis into a new direction. Such movements could heretofore only be carried out on a real ski slope. Since such wedeln requires a large number of rapid rhythmic movements this type of skiing is particularly difficult to learn for the average weekend skier who only has a few hours of skiing available to him on occasional weekends.
There are already known a number of training devices for learning how to ski. One of these known training devices includes a number of elastic planks which swing in a parallel plane by means of which ski turns can be learned. However, such a training device does not require the person using the training device to actually use centrifugal forces when training on the device so that the training effect on such a device is limited to hip movements without thereby sufficiently training the person using the device in maintaining his or her equilibrium.
In order to train a person to maintain his or her equilibrium under the influence of centrifugal forces, while learning how to effect parallel turn skiing, there has already been proposed to position a skier within the periphery of a rotating disk and, by shifting his or her center of gravity, to compensate for the centrifugal forces generated by the movements of his or her body. With such a known training device the skier can also assume various crouching positions to train for such skiing motions. In view of the fact that the use of this training device does not involve changing directions and the skier does continuously turn with the disc, the exercise and training effect of this known training device are also limited.